Bosque del Apache - February 2020 - Part 2

Another pretty New Mexico sunset

After the sunset, Snow Geese started returning to the Wetlands Roost Pond for the night.

Since we knew that geese were spending the night at this pond, we decided to return the next morning before dawn to see their mass morning departure.

Geese on the pond before dawn

Before dawn many more geese flew into the pond.

The Sandhill Cranes were mostly still sleeping as the geese were waking up.

Coyotes in the area were also awake and letting their presence be known.

As the sun illuminated Chupadera Peak, the geese flew off en masse.

While the geese tend to depart and return together, the Sandhill Cranes tend to wander off in much smaller groups over time.

Bosque del Apache - February 2020 - Part 1

In early February we returned to San Antonio, New Mexico, primarily to spend more time at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.

Javelina feeding next to the refuge road

Sandhill Cranes in sunset color

Cranes flying in late against the fading sunset

The owner of the small RV park we stayed in feeds corn to the cranes, so there were always several hanging around.

There was also a large flock of American Wigeon ducks that were usually either in a nearby pond or feeding in the fields next to the RV park.  The feeding ducks tended to move as a tight mass like a moving carpet.

One of many Great Blue Heron sightings

We wanted our visit to coincide with a full moon.
This is about a day and a half before being full.

Petrified Forest - 2020

After leaving Sedona, we spent a couple of nights in Holbrook, Arizona, so that we could revisit Petrified Forest National Park.  Because of road work, we had the choice of visiting the northern or the southern part of the park.  We opted to visit the northern part on this visit.

The northern end of the park is in the Painted Desert which is an area of colorful badlands cutting across north-east Arizona.

The Painted Desert Inn dates from the 1920s and is now operated by the National Park as a museum and bookstore.

Our next stop was the Puerco Pueblo ruins.

Near the pueblo ruins are many different petroglyphs.

Further along the park road is Newspaper Rock.   This site contains a high concentration of petroglyphs.

Our last stop before the park road closure was Blue Mesa.  Blue Mesa is a colorful badlands area where large petrified logs are eroding out of the formations.

The petrified wood was often very colorful.

Interesting toadstool shaped rock

Palatki & Honanki Hertitage Sites

Another day trip from Sedona was to visit the Palatki and Honanki Heritage Sites near Sedona.  These sites contain the remains of Sinagua cliff dwellings that were occupied between about 1150 and 1350 A.D.

The Palatki site is located along these beautiful red cliffs.

Our first view of the pueblo ruins from the trail

Closer to the ruins

Another section of the Palatki site contains a grotto with many pictgraphs.

The view from near the grotto

The pueblo ruins seen from the grotto area

A few miles from Palatki is the Honanki Heritage Site.

There are many pictographs found near the Honanki dwelling ruins.

More beautiful landscape